The Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCSI) has warned that homeowners may be overpaying for house insurance. It says they are paying for more cover than they can claim in the event that they need to rebuild their home– and overpaying on their insurance premium as a result.

The most common mistake homeowners made was to confuse the market value of a property with its rebuild cost. For example, the average three bed semidetached 95sq m (1,023sq.ft) house in Donegal is €85,000, but the rebuilding cost based on the SCSI house rebuilding guide is €117,000.

In contrast, a similar property in Dublin could sell for €350,00, but has a rebuild cost of €181,000.

Having the correct reinstatement value will not only make certain that you are not over- or underinsuring your property but will also avoid overpayment when it comes to your home insurance premium.

Royal London have announced they are now offering 10% off all price-matched mortgage protection premiums. This special offer runs from Monday 21st September until 30th October 2015.

In the event of death, mortgage protection will make a once off lump sum payment to cover the remainder of your Mortgage. As you pay off your mortgage, your protection cover will reduce to reflect the amount you owe.

Irish Life have published figures for claims made for Life Insurance in 2014. They paid out on average over €4 million per week to families across Ireland. Claims were made for both Life and Serious Illness Cover.

New Ireland have paid out over €480 million to its customers in the past 5 years. Claims were made in the period from January 2010 to Decemebr 2014.

In a statement from New Ireland they pride themselves on this record;

‘ We are extremely proud of our claims history in the Irish Market. We really care about customer claims as they demonstrate our commitment to meeting our customers’ financial protection needs when they need it most’.

Who is making claims and why?

A breakdown of 2014 statistics highlights the largest emerging demographics and reasons for those making a claim.

Main Causes of Claims: approximately 76% of (individual) serious illness claims and 66% of (individual) life cover claims were for cancer and heart related illnesses.

Early Claims: 46% of (individual) life cover claims arose from policies less than 10 years old.

Young Claimants:27yrs was the age of the youngest serious illness claimant, 26yrs* was the age of the youngest life cover claimant, and 24yrs was the age of the youngest income protection claimant.

Male versus Female: 77% of income protection claimants were female.

* This statistic excludes any children’s deaths.
The figures above are based on New Ireland Assurance’s claims experience in 2014.